


Deleted Scene: Steve

by paladin_cleric_mage



Series: My Heroes Had the Heart [3]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 01:08:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14438190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paladin_cleric_mage/pseuds/paladin_cleric_mage
Summary: Saturday, February 16th, 1985, c.7:00PM





	Deleted Scene: Steve

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peirypatt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peirypatt/gifts).



_I'm sorry._

How long must he endure the violence of Billy's love? Chief Hopper and Mrs. Byer's words were what carried him through the night, and rocked him through tears the entire ride home. 

Home. This isn't home now. It can't be with Billy confining him to this space, this broken love. Once their love was an ocean, a powerful, tidal living thing. Waves rose, crested, fell, and they floated because they had each other. They were each other's life lines, until Billy's actions frayed and split them to the point of severing. Steve is drowning now, in a love he believed would give him purpose.

He is purposeless, but not forgotten.  _We’re here for you, day or night, regardless of what’s going on. You understand?_  We're here for you. That's what Hopper said, and Steve hadn't understood, not then. Optimism was in his blood, but that was yet another life force dwindling as he sunk beneath the stormy waves of a tempest-torn romance. Tonight he sees that the man's offer wasn't a jab at his weakness, his sensitivity. It was a net cast to catch him when this exact moment unfolded. 

Nobody wanted to see Steve break, but he did, and these same people want to put him back together. 

With a squelch he lifts his hand off his face. It's covered in blood. Warm, dark, never meant to be seen. To his surprise there are still more tears. Since when does he cry for himself? This is different, somewhere between self-hatred and pity. What he said hurt Billy, but he  _had_ to say it. His other choice was continue to lie down and take the hurt, like the pathetic dog he is. And those were his lover's words.  _Idiot_.  _Bullshit. Angel._

Maybe he is none of those, maybe he's nothing. Worthless. But not forgotten. Wiping his hand on his shirt he stands, and in spite of the throbbing on the left side of his face, he loosely packs a duffel bag. He can't stay here. When Billy returns-- and he  _will_ return, because he wants to stay here forever, beside his so-called  _princess_ \-- there will be hell to pay. What more can he give, besides his life? He can't risk that discovery. Not now, when Billy's fully charged and upset, and if Steve knows this boy at all he's out there getting lit, waiting for his body to find its way back. What will he be like? Steve won't be here to find out.

He throws his bag over his shoulder and runs downstairs. His parents are watching a movie on TV, pleasantly sequestered with their respective beer and wine. Saturday night at the Harringtons, what could go wrong? Two boys upstairs screaming? Doors slamming? Crying, your son sprinting downstairs, breathless, face doused in blood? Why bother noticing. They're good boys. He's a good son.  _They like him because he's stronger than me_. Billy is their son. If he comes home-- drunk, high, livid-- they won't say a thing. Steve can't afford that. He needs his defenders. And they're not here.

“I’m going to stay at a friends tonight,” he states.

Slowly they register their son standing before them. Confusion dawns on their placated faces. His mother says, "Why?" 

His father says, "Isn't he your only friend?"

His jaw stings with wanting to cry again. _Again_. Is this what he is reduced to now? A barely beating heart pumping blood laced with tears? Fighting the sadness in his chest, the fear in his gut of getting himself out of this situation, he shouts, “He's not my friend at all! Okay? And I don't want to be here when he comes back.”

Confusion becomes pity-- they pity him, too, like a dog shaking in the cold, too ratty to be allowed in the house but deserving of the slightest shred of charity. Throw him a bone, why don't you? Let him live another night.

"Did you have a fight?" his mother asks.

"Yes, another one. I need to leave."

“This is your house before Billy's," his father says, eyebrow spiked. "Why would _you_  run away?"

"Because--" Steve defends.

"Look, just man up and tell him to go home."

"I can't do that!” he screams.

They sink back against the sofa, suddenly wary. A shared glance, they have never seen their cheerful, compliant son as some terror stricken prey. He's shaking with adrenaline, it's no shock why standing up for himself has never made a difference. He is weak.

But not forgotten. There are people waiting for him, he'll reach them and they'll know how to help. Instead of trying to save those around him, he can allow himself to be saved.

“Alright,” his father says. His mom nods as he explains, “When he gets back, we'll tell him he needs to leave. Then you can come home.”

"Thank you." He takes a step back, ready to bolt.

"Wait-- honey, where will you be?" Worry etches soft lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth. She was so good when he was younger. Since no one ever had to worry about Steve as he grew older, their concern feathered and floated away. He sees it now as a relic, something out of place and unnecessary.

These people aren't family. Sure, they know the foods he likes, his favorite teams. His mother noticed when he had become too thin to keep his jeans around his hips and took him clothes shopping, they let Billy stay when he was in need. However, Steve has realized that the mark of family stems not from money and trivial matters, but tears and blood. The party is his family, and the party is waiting for him. Dustin, who promised Steve is still the best big brother, never one to be given up on. He was the one who bandaged Steve and got him in the Camaro that night so Billy wouldn't slaughter him when the sedatives wore off. El and Will are family. They pushed their parents to crack Steve open and plant seeds in his head, even after Billy attacked them. Mrs. Byers and Chief Hopper hardly know him, but they have been there for him at the important moments, and they have been there for his kids. Blood and tears,  _love_. Family. They'll be here for him now. They have to.

"Steven," his father says firmly. "Your mother asked you a question. Whose house will you be at?"

He shakes his head and disappears. 

 

 


End file.
